


For it is my duty

by FernShaw



Category: Hollow Knight (Video Games)
Genre: AU : THK didn't need the dreamers to seal the Radiance, Also THK was truly Hollow and did a perfect job in this story, Also this might not be the arranged marriage AU you are waiting for ?, Arranged Marriage, But still this will end up in Lace x Hornet, F/F, OVERUSED TROPE ? I DON'T CARE
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-21
Updated: 2020-12-06
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:14:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 14,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25428988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FernShaw/pseuds/FernShaw
Summary: As a symbol of their newly created alliance, the children of the rulers of Hallownest and Pharloom have to be wed, despite the fact that Hornet is really not happy about it
Relationships: Herrah the Beast/Hive Queen Vespa (Hollow Knight), Hornet/Lace (Hollow Knight)
Comments: 53
Kudos: 123





	1. Chapter 1

"Mom ... I'm scared."

It was quite a rare sight. The princess of the deepnest, admitting her weakness, admitting the fact that she was not feeling well for once. It was quite a normal feeling, but most weavers tended to hide it. Was it shame or fear ? No one really knew. But they mostly hid their emotions.

The kingdom of Hallownest was probably one of the most wonderful place to live in. The king was one of the most intelligent creatures out there, one that could even defeat the Old Light herself. No one knew the details of his plan, but sealing his own child brought peace to all bugs. The plan and the vessel were so perfect that he didn't even had to take dreamers for his plan. In the end, the king simply decided to let the once dreamers keep the gifts he allowed them to have as a sign of gratitude and hoping for better relationships through the kingdom. And even if the deepnest kept seeing them as a threat, the tribe was quite grateful for both letting them keep their dear rule and giving them a wonderful princess.

But sadly, nothing was eternal, and peace wouldn't last forever. Despite the kingdom's nature, other countries were to seek alliances with the land of the Wyrm. A kingdom far from everything was to be unique and powerful enough to survive on its own, which meant a good ally to have. And if the alliance was to be refused, a war would obviously start. The king was powerful, and so was his army. He could've destroyed their forces. But that would've meant having innocents go to war and get killed when peace could've been an option. And as territorial the Wyrm was, his priority was to protect his subjects. So he took the path of the partnership. Sadly, this had a cost. A simple signed paper was usually source of discord, and having something to make sure their alliance would not be broken was much more appreciated by both rulers. And so, the Queen of Pharloom decided that a wedding would be a good proof of their loyalty toward each other. Sadly, both the Wyrm and the Ant Queen were already with a partner and wouldn't leave them for the world. But the thing was, they both had children that were in age to be in a relationship.

And so, Hornet was chosen as the gift to the queen of Pharloom. The one who fought for her freedom of being the warrior princess she desired to be for her entire life was to be reduced in a simple doll, linked to a stranger that she barely knew by his name, used as a simple object for a transition to peace.

Usually, Hornet would've been in rage, mad about her father and his selfish decisions, but she wasn't. She was just broken, and more than anything else, she was scared. She was to be sent to a new kingdom like a simple package, to go in a family she didn't know, to a kingdom she barely heard of, and would not be given the possibility of seeing her family often. Hornet was scared because the simply though of not being in deepnest terrified her. She liked this place, dark and cozy, always surrounded by other spiders. Outside was always too bright for her eyes, and she couldn't stay the warrior she liked to be in the "civilized world" like her father said. She was civilized, she just had different traditions. Kings were to wear crowns, big clothes and looked smug. Hornet like to wear a hunter's cloak, her needle and stay with her fierce look.

Herrah knew what was feeling Hornet. That feeling of revulsion for the world that she didn't know. That knowledge that no one would accept her as she wanted to be. And seeing her daughter is such state was heartbreaking. Sadly, they both knew this was for the best. If the alliance wasn't concluded, it would mean war. And a war would bring everyone in age of fighting in the battlefield, including Hornet. The princess knew that there would be countless deaths of she refused her task. But she wouldn't be able to deny that she was scared.

"Hornet, honey... It's normal to be scared. We both know it. But I know that they're going to treat you well. As the symbol of peace, there is no chance that they will neglect your well being. And like I told you, I asked for your room to ressemble the one you have here."

"But ... It's not the same ... I don't want my room... I want to stay with you. I want to stay in deepnest. I want to hunt like I always did, not to be served by an idiotic Butler like Lurian's."

"I know, I know ... I'm sorry. I really wanted to be here for you, I'm sorry I couldn't bring you more of everything you need. I love you Hornet."

"I don't want you to be sorry, I know you're doing your best, it's just ... Frustrating."

The spider slowly wrapped her arms around her mother's body, trying to hide her tears. She felt her horns slowly getting rubbed, the thing that Herrah always did when she was sad. It was reassuring. At least for a little bit. She finally decided to let her mother go and sighed, looking around her room to try to get a last image of it and grabbed her weapon.

"Do you think ... They'll let me keep my needle ?"

"If they won't, they'll have a little taste of my fist in their face."

Hornet chuckled, and brought her needle against her body, trying to get her smile last a little longer.


	2. Chapter 2

The arrival of the princess of Hallownest was ... Not really hidden, to say the very least. Trumpets all around the court of the palace, people apparently coming from everywhere in the kingdom gathered around to see the spider, gasping and muttering small comments under their breaths ... It was stressful, to say the least. Hornet was used to crowds to a certain point, since she and her mother were the ones to listen and talk to the public when decisions were to be taken. The young weaver learned to be someone respected, but not in the same way that Pharloom expected her to be. She was a powerful princess, known to be able to kill nosks all by herself, ready to take decisions and to resolve problems with a fight I'd needed. Princesses in this kingdom were known to be pretty, silent, and learned mainly to maintain pressure on their subjects with trained guards that they directed like a simply pet. They had little to no power whatsoever, and that made Hornet incredibly uncomfortable. But there was something that both royal lines shared, and it was intelligence. They were known to be strategic, and knew how to deal with an opponent with a mind rather than violence. Sadly, this trait was usually not something to seek in someone you want to trust, as it usually revealed someone to be manipulative. 

Slowly but surely Hornet was brought to the castle's fanciest rooms, only to be stripped of her cloak and tools and almost getting her precious needle stolen by some random servant who considered it "too dangerous". The Weaver simply linked it to a thread of her silk only to throw it on the ceiling of the room, where only her would be able to reach it. A few seconds after that, the servants were already trying to put weird products all over her body and face, starting with weird white powders to finish with weirdly colored substance put around the upper parts if her eyes. Each time she asked why, she was only given an answer "you are so pretty like that !". Soon after the nightmare ended, the poor spider was wrapped around with a white dress with a lot of inconvenient parts added on it only to look like some kind of flowers. She tried to walk a few meters with it, only to almost trip and fall down at every step. The servants smiled and left the room, telling the poor spider to wait until the prince arrives to welcome her. 

And when they closed the door, tears started to roll down her cheeks. She looked at herself in the mirror and tried to whippe away the substances for her face, which only resulted in it creating a weird colorful mixture all around her face that seemed to have melted because of her tears. Seeing how everything turned out made her feel even worse, and she only had enough energy left to sit on the floor and bring her knees to her face. No matter how much she wanted to forget about it, was trapped in this nightmare and there was no going back. 

She cried, not even knowing how much time had passed. Perhaps an hour. Or only a few minutes. In the end, it changed nothing. But after quite some time, she felt something, on her shoulder. She shivered and opened her eyes to see a bug in white clothes sitting besides her, with a worried expression on her face.

"Are you okay mon chou ?"

Hornet wasn't sure about what to say, but in the end it didn't mattered because anything coming out of her mouth was turned into an ugly sob. The white bug got up, grabbed a bottle full of a weird white liquid and put in on some moss, and slowly whipped Hornet's face with it, removing the awful colors it bared. 

"That's what I thought. You're a lot prettier without theses washed up colors on your face, ma chérie. Care to tell me what's wrong ? I won't judge you."

Hornet slowly started to calm down. Unlike the servants, this presence was reassuring. It felt warm. After a little while of focusing on her breathing, Hornet shed her last tear and tried to put words in her thoughts. 

"I wanted to see what this kingdom had to give me but ... I really don't like it. I feel lonely. I don't want to wear anything like that but they won't listen to me. I don't want to force myself to be someone I'm scared of."

The white bug smiled and pulled a shiny golden pin out of her uniform, and ripped Hornet's clothes in one go, with a precision that was quite remarquable. 

"If you don't want to wear that, then screw it. Thoses girls are just too dumb to listen to you, anyway. I'm ... Guessing you are the princess from Hallownest ? I'm sorry you have to stay here, I'll admit that it's not the best place to be. C'est la vie. Buuut, I think you shouldn't always stay in the rules either. Because having a good time is important. Welp, I think wandering around with no clothes wouldn't be the best idea either ... What did you wear before coming here ?"

"A red cloak."

The white bug jumped towards the nearest drawer with a little laugh and quickly found the crimson piece of clothing that she threw at Hornet. The spider immediately put it back, smiled and had a sigh of relief. It already felt better. 

"Thank you, umh ..."

"Lace. I'm Lace. And you ?"

"Hornet."

The little exchange was stopped by a knock on the door. 

"Well Hornet, it was a pleasure meeting you. I know this might be a place you won't appreciate, but all that I hope is that you won't be too sad. I hope we'll meet again."

Lace jumped dashed the nearest window, opened it, and jumped through it, leaving a confused yet happier Hornet. The door was finally opened by one of the servants, who looked at Hornet with a surprised face, seeing that she got her original clothes back.

"T-the Prince is here. The Queen requires you to have a meeting with him."

Hornet sighed, grabbed her needle and simply followed the servants. At least she knew that not all of them were heartless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I do a French Lace because I want to write things in my own language ?   
> ...  
> Perhaps


	3. Chapter 3

Hornet walked through the hallways, still uneasy with everything going on but happier with her cloak. The guards of the palace were watching her like she was about to jump into acid. It didn't mattered to her anymore, she just wanted to be done with that stupid meeting. A prince huh ? That was something she had to deal with, but she didn't know how. Princesses were known to be elegant, gracious and maybe a little bit sisterly towards each other. But princes ? Everything she got from them were that they were brainless, self-centered, and most of all atrociously arrogant. They barely knew how to use a nail and were always telling that they would save everyone... Liar. They were just a bunch of lucky people that were born in a nice family and that's that. Herrah had to earn her place as a Queen, just like Hornet had to keep hers as a princess. And being wed to an weak idiot was clearly one of the last things Hornet would be happy about. That, and the fact that she had no attraction towards male wasn't good for it either.

The walk felt horribly long. This castle had way too many corridors, and Hornet felt like she would get lost if she even tried to get out of this place. Great. She probably wouldn't even be able to find that nice servant again.

"Here is steel prince Sharpe's room. We hope that you'll have a good time in his company"

Without even waiting for an answer, the two ladies grabbed the spider, opened the door and shoved her into the room. She took a second to regain her mind when she noticed someone was staring at her. A young completly black boy in a shiny armor was on his bed, apparently reading some kind of ancient book. He looked at Hornet in every detail before sighing and walking towards the spider.

"I'm going to be clear very quickly. I do not intend to have this relationship work in any sort of romantic way. Not only because I do not believe in fairy tales where everything is going so perfectly and the arranged marriage somehow ends up being good, but also because I have no desire to start a romantic relationship whatsoever. I do not seek it, I do not ask for it, and I especially do not want anything to do with this kind of thing."

Hornet only stared at the young boy, in shock, not really knowing what to say nor what to do. After a little while the prince noticed her obvious stress and immediately used a lot less threatening tone.

"I-I'm sorry, I don't mean to be someone that looks like he's going to blame the marriage on your back or anything, it's really not your fault. It's just ... I'm really not comfortable with everything that's happening. I was just hoping I could have the chance to ... Not get a partner. And I know some princesses are taught to always believe in love and that their husband will be someone who loves them no matter what. So I wanted to make that clear. Don't take it as a personal offence."

Hornet finally understood the situation, and let our the breath she was holding. She obviously wasn't the only one not appreciating this arrangement, and she appreciated the fact that he was clear with her. At least none of them would have to fake it.

"To be honest, I'm not enjoying this wedding either and wasn't thinking of you as a ... Charming prince. I respect what you just told me and won't try to interfere with your wishes ... And trust me, I appreciate a lot more seeing you being honest with your feelings rather than someone forcing me to kiss every twelve seconds because "it gives a good image." Yuck."

Sharpe snickered and offered a seat on the bed to hornet, which glady took the offer.

"Well trust me, you're not going to have that with me. He only time I'll be kissing someone in my life is the day we'll get officially wed and then I'll wash my mouth for 30 minutes straight and try to forget about it."

Hornet took a look at her needle with a smile.

"Even if we don't end up being in the relationship wanted by the kingdoms, do you think we could have something more ... Cordial ? It would be better to communicate rather than always staying in our respective corners."

"Oh yeah yeah, good idea ! Honestly I don't know about you but I'm feeling super lonely here. There's no one to talk to except my sister. So we should absolutly hang out together."

"Well, I had friends in my tribe but I don't have anyone here. It would be appreciated to have someone to talk to ... Someone that doesn't have an entire tree shoved up their ass, that is."

"Wha- you had friends ?! Lucky girl ... Honestly no one here wants to talk to me because they look at me like some kind of ultimate ruler. I can't have a normal conversation in this place, let alone a friend."

The young man got up and grabbed glasses with a bottle with a smile and started to pour a little but of the deep yellow liquid-ish substance in it. He gave a cup to the spider with a smile and tinked his glass against hers.

"Santé ! To our future platonic interpersonal relationship or something like that."

Hornet took a sip of the substance only to purr discovering what was it.

"You have honey here ? Oh thank goodness I thought I'll never taste that again !"

"Wait you have honey in Hallownest ?!"

"Yeah ! My mom's girlfriend was the queen of Hallownest's hive and often brought pots when she came in our den."

Slowly but surely the two bugs started talking about their lifes, appreciating the fact that someone would listen to them.  
Friends. That sounded nice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm tired of seeing princes that flirt with everything on earth   
> go for aroace princes


	4. Chapter 4

There was one thing that Hornet couldn't deny about this kingdom. It was full of assholes, yes. She hated it and felt uncomfortable, yes. But one thing was sure, it felt safe. Hornet didn't appreciated it. Growing up in a place like deepnest made her tense pretty much constantly, to the point that she wasn't even able to sleep an entire night without waking up, out of pure reflex. She liked living like that because it felt earned and she deserved to be in such a high place, because she fought for it. But Pharloom meant no danger. There wasn't any corpse creeper skittering around, nor nosks to trick you into traps by taking the face of one of your friends. The first night where Hornet slept in her new bed, she woke up and had for the first time in her life the thought of not checking around her room. There was no need to move her bed to see if another dirtcarver went under it, because there was no predators around here. Just simple sentient bugs that were guarding the place to make sure it wouldn't be attacked. Hornet felt her muscles hurt from her frustration, but in the end, was a bit happy to see that she wouldn't have to force herself to have push-ups in the middle of the night to train herself in case she gets attacked. 

Waking up sure felt ... Stranger. No one got out of the palace to hunt. She simply got served little red berries in a bowl. At first she got a little bit frustrated, knowing that such food wouldn't substain her for the day. But she got quickly told that it was in fact, the first of three meals that she would be getting every day. Three seemed to be a lot. She didn't know if she even ate that much in her life, except when the family caught no less than four nosks and had to eat everything up before getting to hunt for other things. But wasn't complaining either, she just got genuinely curious about their behaviors. 

The morning was long and boring. She asked several times the guards to get our of her room, yet the never accepted anything. "Too risky" they said. What, did they felt like she would try to escape ? Or perhaps she would get hurt by a piece of dust one the ground ? Pathetic. She quickly got annoyed and tried to ask if she could at least get to train for fighting in a special room. They answered that they'll have to ask the king of hallownest in their future contract for it to be allowed. Hornet simply got even more frustrated. She ended up training by throwing around her needle in her room. It was fun, but the walls probably didn't liked getting slammed repetitively by a weapon that could kill an vengefly king. Still, that was the servants's problem, not hers. She got bored because of them, they'll have to deal with the consequences. 

Midday was ... Okay. She got another meal that was edible to say the least. A disgusting amount of sauce and spices made it horrible to eat. 

But it was at the beginning of the afternoon that the fun began 

Hornet heard knocking on her window. Window that was pretty high, at least high enough to be inaccessible for anyone who didn't trained for it. Opening it was probably a stupid idea. But Hornet had a weapon and she was bored to the core, so she opened it. 

"My my ma petite araignée, I wasn't expecting you to open up so fast ... You sure are daring. I appreciate that."

"Oh ! Lace ... Wasn't it ? It's nice to see you again ! But ... What are you doing here ? Aren't you supposed to have, you know ... Duties ?"

"Duties ? Why would a princess have duties ? I thought you witnessed it by yourself, being a princess here simply means to be trapped in a room and wait for an authorization to do anything fun. Boring."

Hornet repressed a gasp, finally understanding something that she should've figured out by herself. Lace wasn't a Servant. She was the princess of this kingdom. Actually ... That explained why was she dressed so specially compared to other girls and why was she didn't want to be noticed by the servants. A bit ashamed of herself, Hornet lied and found an excuse as quickly as possible. 

"Oh, I ... I was hoping you had a better life. At least not, I don't know... This."

Hornet made an akward gesture pointing towards the floor, which made the princess chuckle. 

"Et non, raté. I am not luckier than you on that point, and I do have to fight to get activities and not die from boredom. For now all that I've got is fencing, dancing and sneaking out when no one is watching, which is pretty often. What about you ? I've heard a loooot of things about deepnest in the past and, I will not hide it, I am quite curious about it. Did you have any activities back there ? Anything that differs from here ? Is it true that princesses can go out without permission ?"

"Well, it is quite different, you see, I didn't get a lot of privileges in deepnest except for being a ruler. I was hunting like any other member of the clan."

"Oooh, je suis curieuse. How does that work ?"

"What ?"

"Hunting ? How do you do it ? Is it dangerous ? Maybe scary ? Aaaah I've never talked with someone who hunted themselves, it is quite exciting !!!" 

"Oh, I see ... Well it is quite simple. First, you..."

The afternoon was great.   
And to be honest, Hornet would have been happier if it lasted longer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you may have noticed the number of chapters have changed   
> I have the scenario written down but noticed I have a little problem : I tend to write about 1k words every time even if my base is litteraly one or two lines   
> So if you like this you might get more of it if I can't stop my hands from writing more and more


	5. Chapter 5

Hornet's life became as boring as a grub's. Wake up. Eat. Train by herself. Eat. Imagine herself back in deepnest. Eat. Cry. Sleep. It was a difficult life. She hated it, to say the least. 

Or at least, that was the official version.

To say the truth, she did spent all of her time in her room, trapped like a simple grub. Yet, she was lucky enough to have someone to visit her regularly. Lace came every day to make sure she was alright, and spent as much time as she could to keep her company. She was ... A very interesting bug. Intelligent, powerful and a bit malicious, yet very unaware of what was outside her kingdom and of the truths about living outside a castle. She was nonetheless very curious, and was really happy to get the knowledge she lacked every time Hornet was talking about a new subject. 

Telling the princess stories about deepnest helped Hornet a lot to forget about the fact that she missed the place so dearly. It felt relieving to share theses memories with someone who didn't experienced them or heard of them in the first place. Everyone knew everyone in the tribe. And when a story happened, Hornet had to rush if she wanted to talk about it or else everyone would be already bored about the subject. But Lace ? She was ignorant about everything, and so was an attentive and passionate listener. The white bug was gasping at every little situation that turned into a surprise. She craved new stories about Nosks and corpse creepers that would have probably terrified any other member of her palace. 

But another interesting thing about Lace was the fact that she was not only intelligent, but fierce.

After months of nagging she was finally accepted in a fencing class and quickly became the best student in it. She was quick, knew where and when to attack and didn't need much time to improvise something. A perfect fighter. She did lacked the experience of true fights, that was something than anyone could see if they had any experience with it. She was a little bit too fair and never attacked on the back nor tried to trick Hornet during their training sessions, and was pretty confused when Hornet used some unusual methods against her. But she was a fast learner and quickly came with parades against it. She didn't lack the capacities, only the experience. And that was probably the most important thing a fighter could have. 

And so, once again, Hornet slowly ate her breakfast waiting for Lace to come. She was already thinking about the stories she could tell, and what kind of things they could learn from each other this time when the usual knock on the window got the spider out of her mind. She jumped towards it and smiled seeing the girl in a white dress waiting for her. 

"Hi Lace !"

"Psst, can you come out ?"

"Won't we get caught ?"

"Non non, trust me, no one sees anything from up here ... I do it all the time, just think about the fact that It's been a week that I went to your room every day and they didn't noticed a thing."

Hornet was a bit confused but still decided to follow the girl. It's not like she betrayed her in the past, and she had no reason to. She took her needle, threw it outside and used her silk to bring her out of the room, ending up right next to her dear friend. 

"So, why would you wanted me to leave ?"

"I know you don't like being stuck in your room and therefore I have the perfect place for you to play around. It's not really far abd I can assure you that no bug except knows about such place. Would you like to come ?"

Hornet smiled and nodded happily.

"Nice. Follow me, it's quick but it's better to get to it by a path where I'm sure no one would see us."

The two bugs walked on the roofs of the castle, jumping around and snorting seeing how much none of them was used to this kind of parkour. Hornet looked around her. It was a nice view. Blinding and way too bright for her senses, but nice nonetheless. Slowly but surely, the girls finally arrived to a place that was clearly left abandoned in the castle. There were plants everywhere, a little scent that reminded hornet of delicate flowers and a giant iron cage in the middle of it, seemingly put just over some kind of hole. 

"What's that ?"

"An old elevator. No one uses it but it's perfectly safe. It'll get us to the place." 

Lace jumped from the room to land in the little place, opening the cage's door and calling Hornet to join her. Hornet jumped right into the cage using her silk and Lace joined in with a smile before pulling a lever. The elevator started to go down, slowly bringing the two bugs into a gigantic dark room covered in pale roses. It felt humid, cold and a Hornet slowly got the feeling that she was watched. It felt like home. 

"That's the rose field. It was used for religious purposes a long time ago. Not sure what kind of purpose, but I like it. Qu'en penses tu, mon chou ?"

"I... I love it. I love it so much. 

Once the duo arrived on the ground, hornet slowly began the touch the flowers. They smelled like the one Vespa always brought to their home. Hornet just stood her for a few seconds before giving up on her instincts. She started purring, and shoved her whole body on the flowers, her joy being out of control. She craved this feeling for so long, she didn't thought she could even get it once again. After a good amount of time of rolling down between the flowers, she finally noticed that Lace was watching her with a huge smile. Hornet blushed and chuckled a little. This was kind of embarrassing but she didn't mind. Lace wouldn't judge her and she knew it. She finally got up and looked around looking for other things that might interest her. 

"Sadly, there is nothing else I can show you here, my little spider. Outside this room is a guardian, one that never lets anyone get out or in the royal grounds. I know you're fierce, but battling him would be pointless and dangerous. I recommend you not to challenge this man or he'll make you understand that his épée isn't just a pointy thing and his skills are one of an excellent combatant."

"... Understood."

Hornet's taste for fights made her shiver at the idea of a worthy opponent in a true battle. Yet the weaver was never fond of pointless battle with no rewards in the end, so she decided to stop her impulse and just stared at the exit.

"Thank you."

"Huh ? Why ?"

"For this. For you. It's all I ever wanted here. You did so much for me, I don't know how to properly thank you yet. But I can state it orally, so I will. Thank you."

Lace simply walked towards the spider and put a delicate hand on her shoulder. 

"De rien."


	6. Chapter 6

Mariage 6

When Hornet heard the trumpets in all of the castle this morning, she knew something was up. She hadn't seen Lace this day, and theses instruments were heard only once before in this castle : when she arrived.   
Not knowing what this meant was frustrating for the spider, especially since it was probably a big thing. But she barely had the time to question herself that two servants entered her room, grabbed her and forcefully got her out. The poor Weaver tried to ask what was going on yet no one answered her. Hornet didn't liked the servants of this place for this particular reason. They didn't cared about others. They acted like robots. After being dragged into a room full of colorful dresses, Hornet understood what was going to happen once again. The servants barely closed the door that the spider used her silk to shove them on the ground, took her needle in her hand and went into a corner of the room. The two maids looked at each other and started to raised their hands to try to catch the Weaver but she responded with a loud hiss and showed her fangs dripping with venom. Insects of all kingdoms knew better than to touch a spider's biggest weapon. To them, they were harmless. To any other insect, they could mean death in an instant. The substance was meant to dissolve any kind of carapace and meat and turn it into a gooish substance, killing pretty much anything around the part of the body where it was applied. Loosing a limb to an angry spider was something easy to do, and the substance burning the muscles made it barely possible to regrow a limb with any major handicap. So the servants slowly backed down, trembling, and got out of the room, all of that with a powerful stare that Hornet was not ready to forget. 

Even when the two of them got out of the room, Hornet couldn't help but stay tense. It was so scary to her. She hated to be touched so much, especially without a warning nor an explaination. And she was definitely not getting in another of thoses stupid dresses anytime soon. It took her minutes to be able to calm herself down, still in chock. And when she heard a knock on the door, she immediately froze and got back into a fighting position. It was only when she saw who opened the door than she understood that finally, she could be not in danger anymore. It was Sharpe, very confused to see her in such state. 

"Woaw ... Are you okay ? What happened?"

Slowly regaining her normal breath and putting her needle in her back once again, she tried to recompose her thoughts to give an answer. 

"I don't know what happened ... Two girls just randomly caught me and dragged me here, I guess it was to make me wear something specific but I don't want any of it. Umh ... Do you have any idea of what's going on ? I won't lie, I'm pretty lost here."

"Oh, you didn't know ? I guess you lost track of days in your damn cell too."

A cell huh. That was a pretty good word to describe the room that hornet stayed in so long. A bit cynical maybe, but not far from truth. 

"Is that a special day ? I just got here without any indications of what would happen next. I just got told that I'll have to wait until the wedding but nothing else."

"Wait no one told you about it ? Your father was supposed to come today to sign the official contract for the alliance. I'm guessing they wanted to make you look pretty and all to make it look like everything is perfect."

Hornet froze, grabbing her needle.

"Wait. So the pale king is here ?"

"Yes. He's here for a few hours only thought."

"I need to go. I have... Something to do."

The spider didn't wait for an answer and rushed out of the room, and down the stairs that she could find. She didn't know where was she going but one thing was certain, she was going to find her father. She asked a few days ago for official papers for him to sign, that would allow her to get out of her room. And liking it or not, he would sign it. 

She jumped around the palace, ignoring everyone that tried to restrain her from throwing her needle everywhere. She had only see instinct to guid her, but Wyrm did have a pretty strong presence. And so, before she realized it, she found him. 

Him and his stupid crown, his stupidly strong glowing body and his scent of weird perfume that made her want to vomit. 

Hornet hated her father- no. Genitor. This was not a father and that was the exact reason of why she hated him. He never cared about her until now, because she could be used as a simple tool. She was nothing more to his eyes. Even the white lady, which didn't had any blood related link to her, felt more like a parent. She was one of the only reason she went to the white palace once a year. Her, and his knights. But right now she had to ask for her from him, and she clearly was going to get it. 

"Hello pale king."

"Hello Hornet."

The Wyrm was tense. He wasn't expecting her to get around this place. And the fact that he had no idea of what was she here only made it more difficult for him to show no signs of stress. After a bit of silence, the spider finally opened her mouth. 

"I need your help."

The king simply looked at her, with no response being brought. 

"I need this to be signed. Now. This is an official paper that forces them allow me to get out of my room anytime I want to go anywhere I want."

"This is a new kingdom, one you chose to associate yourself with. Like it or not, you'll have to accept their traditions even if they don't feel nice for you."

"Sign it or I'll cancel everything you planned."

"You accepted this deal, of you own free will. It is too late to go back."

"I didn't do that for you, hear me ? I did this for my mom. Because deepnest can be in severe danger because of your shit. You're not a part of my family. Now sign this fucking paper or I'll cut your head off and ask for the White Lady to sign it. She's the only reasonable person in your goddamn palace."

The princess jumped out of the room using her needle, stopping herself from doing any harm to the king. It was difficult but it was better not to make any fuss about it. 

The king only got to sigh, grasping the paper with a shaky hand a slowly signing it.


	7. Chapter 7

Hornet's genitor might have been a careless idiot, but apparently he was not stupid enough to stop her daughter from having any kind of liberties. A few hours before the king's departure, Hornet was officially authorized to get out as she will, and was clearly going to use this opportunity. 

For the first few days she mainly got out to hang out with Lace. She simply pretended to wish to meet the princess she was going to share her future kingdom with, and everyone believed it. Lace couldn't be more amused than hearing the story of the legendary Wyrm getting stressed about his daughter killing him, enough for him to accept a deal that would probably cost a lot to both kingdoms in ... Some way. At least, that's what it felt like. To restrain a princess like that, there probably was a precise reason and Hornet clearly didn't like that thought. But she wasn't any kind of medium and couldn't just guess what made them so mad about her roaming around her own palace. 

But still she had Lace, and that was all mattered at this instant. 

"You know, you don't always have to come see me Hornet. There's plenty of places to go in the palace other than this room."

Like any other day, she had a long training session with Lace. Being able to yell a bit and make true moves without fearing to be discovered truly felt nice. 

"Am I annoying ?"

"Wha- no, absolutly not ! You're my best friend here, I wouldn't dare to say that for the world. No what I meant is, you should use a bit of your time to see what's in the palace. It wouldn't be nice of me to just keep you here all the time because I want you with me. That, and I think you spend most of your time in your room when I have my fencing lessons. Go have fun !"

"Okay, but where ? No one gave me a plan of this place, I can't just guess what is going on and where is it."

"Mmmh ... There's always the training room for the guards near the kitchen on the main left tower, there's so neat equipment there. I've stole things there more than once. There's the gardens, I think I understood you liked flowers."

Hornet quickly remembered what happened in the secret place a few days earlier. Maybe she shouldn't have purred so much nor rolled on thoses flowers showing so much happiness. It might have looked a little ridiculous, thinking of it. But there was no going back for sure, and Lace probably had this image of her in mind. 

"Ah, uuhh ... Yeah I do like flowers. Anything else ?"

"Mmmh ... Hard to say. The library perhaps ? They do have neat books there, and even some historical equipments. I know it's not Hallownest but you're going to rule this country one day, it might be better to learn a little bit about it."

"Where is it ?"

"First floor, near the throne's room. You'll see it quickly, there's a huge bell right above the door." 

A knock on the door interrupted the girl's conversations, with Lace immediately grabbing her pin and saluting Hornet as a reflex before rushing outside. 

"Lessons time, c'est parti ! See you soon sweetie !"

"Bye Lace !"

Hornet smiled as she got outside too. That library definitely seemed interesting, and learning about this country was probably a nice way to get new conversation subjects with Lace. The spider hurried to the first floor, ignoring all of the servants gasping when they saw her dash in "such an ungracious way". Hornet didn't care anymore. She was happier like that and no one was going to stop her and make her walk like an idiot just because they think it's prettier. 

Lace was right, the room's entrance was nearly impossible to miss. That gigantic bell was something noticeable for hundreds of meters away. But getting in there was another problem. 

"Sorry miss, you're not allowed to get into this place."

Guards. There were guards at a library. Why ?! Theses were books. Words. Why would anyone need to guard theses. 

"Oh I think I will get in there, like it or not."

"I said, we-"

"Listen, I don't want to waste my times with two idiots that are unable to understand a simple thing. I am allowed to go anywhere in this castle, I made it very clear with the contract that my father signed. So now you're going to let me walk past this door or receive my needle in your throat. Understood ? This is a library not a goddamn sacred place."

The guards looked at each other, apparently a but lost, but ended up moving out of the spider's way. She simply sighed and walked pass them, used to this kind of treatment at this point. Any person in this castle except Sharpe and Lace seemed to make everything in their power for making Hornet's life a nightmare. 

The library was ... A library. Horner simply looked at the shelves and grabbed a few books that seemed to be about the kingdom's history. To be honest, they were all pretty boring. Tales about pale beings, perhaps a little bit of magic sometimes, a bunch of historical events that ended up in traditions and way too many kings and queens. Yeah ... She was definitely not going to remember everything and that was probably for the best. After all, most citizens didn't know about any of those names. 

Hornet ended up reading everything she had in hand, which took her a few hours. She didn't especially liked to read but even if she wouldn't keep all of the infortmations she just read about in her memory, learning about the place she was trapped in was indeed interesting. 

But when she decided to put those book back where they belonged, something felt wrong. One of the pieces of wood felt a lot lighter than the others. It was difficult to say exactly how she felt it, but stepping on it definitely made Hornet understand that something was off. She left the books on the shelves and came back to see what was going on. She knocked on the piece of wood, only to hear something that ressembled a false floor's sound. She definitely knew about theses, deepnest was full of this kind of traps and she learned about it the hard way. Curious, Hornet grabbed the edges of the wood and slowly moved it, only to realize that she wasn't crazy. Under it were numerous stairs that apparently lead to a hidden part of the library. A part of the spider's instinct was yelling at her not to go down and to put that back in place immediately yet she couldn't help but feel like there was something more interesting about it that she had to see. She simply walked down the stairs and saw something that she would never be able to forget.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heya, just want to put trigger warning here for horror, the details will be in the note in the end of the chapter not to spoil anything, but be safe everyone

She didn't know what she expected in such place. But that was clearly not that. Perhaps a hidden treasure or secret weapons ? Some nice jewelries that belonged to the royal family ? Anything but that. 

Hornet was petrified, only able to breathe slowly seeing what was surrounding her. Skulls. Exosqueletons. Organs in bottles. Wet specimens of hatchlings. And the worst of it ? All of thoses were spiders. This macabre collection was all around the small room, along with a little shelf with a few hand-written books on it. After recomposing herself, Hornet grabbed a few random books and simply took a look at the covers. "How to correctly kill a spider" "Pharloom and spider's, an history of death and battles" "vivisection of an arachnid"... Hornet could only stare, livid and unable to process what was going on. She slowly put back the books on the self, looked at right only to see a pair of floating eyes in a bottle, which made her shiver and fall of the ground. That was horror. That was what true fear felt like. She was stuck down on the floor, unable to make any kind of move nor to call down, feeling observed at any corner of the room. She wanted to puke, badly, but had a thought that stopped her from doing anything. The guards obviously knew about this place. The royal family knew about it. This was their castle. They probably made it. A room full of dead bodies and books of horrors based around the art of tear a life out of its body. Why ? Why ?! So many questions were in her mind. Why especially spiders. Why were there so many books about it. And most of all...

If Hornet was a spider too, what was going to happen to her ? 

She was going to die. She was definitely going to die. But wouldn't that break the contract with the pale king ? Or maybe would she need to get married first ? They could definitely make it look like an incident. Thoses books had so many details it was nearly impossible for them not to show how to make a murder without hiding it. And Hornet couldn't do anything about it. She was trapped, and wasn't able to get off this cursed castle and so unable to get help. She didn't know how to go back home. Everything felt scary. Did she have anyone to trust ? Could she trust Sharpe ? Or even Lace ? Was there anyone in this kingdom who could even try to help her ?

Hornet stopped to shake after a little while, after realizing in what position she was. She stood still, and began to regain her breath. That was the most important part here. She wanted to survive and so, she had to hide the fact that she discovered this room, or it was all over for her. And going out of this library with any signs of fear was an obvious red flag. Breathe in, breathe out. Second, she had to make sure that she didn't leave anything that could point to her, of even anyone going into this room. She did cry, but tears can dry and seeing that the ground was mostly rocks, it wasn't going to be seen. Her dress was a bit dirty but she simply had to shake it a bit to make it look like it was just like before. She quickly looked around the room one last time, trying her best not to shiver at the visions of horror and quickly got out. She took the piece of wood, put it back in place, making sure that it wasn't noticeable anymore and just let herself down on the floor once again. She was going to make it, that was for sure. But controlling herself so much was clearly difficult. She wanted to vomit, to cry her eyes out, but she couldn't do anything. She forced her body to stop shaking once again and for back on her feet. One last deep breath, and she faked a simple smile, took a few books and got out of the library. The guard looked at her with their usual insisting stare, to which she responded. 

"I said it before that's just a fucking library, stop looking at me like that. What's next, you're going to watch me go to the toilet and bath ? Seriously leave me the fuck alone or I'll call out my dad on that."

Hornet tried her best to really sound like a beat on this one. She hated to use her dad as a way to obtain favors, mainly because it made her feel like her royal blood only came from him but also because she didn't like to act like a princess, but this time having him was a good way to get out of a bad situation with just a stare from the guards that saw her as a spoiled kid that just wanted to do anything she wanted. She walked pass them, slowly wandered down the halls of the palace and got back to her room. Thankfully, this day, no one was guarding the door on itself, only the main hall for the guest rooms. She opened the door, slammed it behind her and tears started to fall uncontrollably out of her eyes. She tried to stop herself but just couldn't. All of the stress accumulated got out at once and since it was her only way to let it out, she wasn't able to put an end to it. 

She was in hell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter will contain descriptions of dead bodies, wet specimens and obviously Hornet will not be fine about it.


	9. Chapter 9

Hornet ended up not sleeping that night. The events that led up to her stress were impossible to get off her mind and she just couldn't get any rest without waking up a few seconds after falling alseep, her body tense as possible. She was thinking, a lot and about everything she could. Her father told her that it was already too late for this arrangement, and he was known to never go back on promises. But she was his daughter right ? He should trust her, even a little. Yes but he didn't care about her. She was only a tool. No that pale idiot was a bad idea. But then, who ? Herrah was not invited to the ball, simply because the Wyrm didn't want a beast in a royal meeting. Hornet wasn't able to communicate with her in any way. The worst was she would've absolutely believed her beloved daughter and investigated everything by herself, threatening anyone who would dare to interfere. So that was it. Hornet was all alone. She wanted someone, but who to trust here ? Lace was in her mind. All of this time. Was she with them ? She was their princess, obviously knew about all of this. But then, why bother becoming friends with hornet in the first place ? Was it to make her unaware of the fact that she would probably be murdered soon ? No, no ... That couldn't be. Lace was ... She was a friend ! Hornet loved her !! She would never ... Or would she ?

Thankfully Hornet knew how to lie very well, and she faked annoyance once again when her morning meal was brought to her. She took it, put it on the ground and simply stared at it. She wanted to eat but something in her mind was yelling at her not to touch anything. Not to trust anything. Not to-

Her thoughts were stopped by a knock on her window and the sound of the structure opening. Lace. Lace was here. 

"Bonjour Hornet ! Slept well ? I was hoping you'd come back yesterday after going to the library, was reading book that difficult ? Not like I would judge you of course, anything can feel tiring if you do it long enough."

Lace stopped herself, noticing that something was clearly wrong. Hornet should've already answered by now. The fencer hid her smile only to take a closer look at her friend. Not only she didn't answered, but she didn't move at all. She was frozen in place, six limbs on the ground, looking at her with quite a terrified look. It felt very, very weird, like Hornet saw her as some kind of threat. 

"Ah- I'm sorry, did I wake you up ? I didn't mean to !"

Still no answer. But something was different. Hornet's breath was erratic, as she didn't let her eyes go off Lace. Her muscles were tense as they could get, she seemed to be ready to attack. Something was definitely not right. The princess slowly approached the Weaver, taking careful and slow steps and looking for any kind of reaction. She slowly put her hand on Hornet's face and started to rub it, trying to comfort her. The only reflex Hornet had was to shove the princess on her bed, to block her from any possible way of moving and to hiss like it was the end of the world, baring her fangs full of deadly acid right next to the poor bug's chest. Lace couldn't move, terrified of everything happening, and was barely able to speak.

"Hornet, what ... What's going on ..? You're scaring me ..."

Hornet took this simple state as particularly offensive, yet restrained herself from doing any harm to the princess. 

"Oh, I'm the one scarring you ?! ME ?! Sorry but I won't die here, and if you think you can trick me you surely have no idea of what I can do to you. I trusted you. To think that you're ... Agh I can't believe how much I liked you just only to end up like that !!"

Lace couldn't say any other word, her whole body trembling. She put her arms over your heads, trying desperately to protect herself while assimilating the situation. Why was Horner acting like that ? What did she do wrong ?! Did something happened that Lace didn't know about ?! Only after a little while, three little words came out of mouth, the only ones she could think of. 

"I'm scared, Hornet ..."

That was what brought her back to reality. Hornet suddenly snapped back and realized what was she doing. He fangs were so full of poison that it was almost dripping out. Her claws were awfully close to Lace's vital organs. And Lace ... That was awful. She was trembling, between her arms, barely able to process everything happening, too scared to call for help and to defend herself. Hornet slowly backed down only to stumble and trip, unable to get herself back up and simply exploding in tears. That was horrible. She was horrible. Was that why were they so much against spiders ? Because their instincts were so strong ? 

"I'm scared of you too, Lace ..."

Hornet was barely audible between her tears, she felt like a hatchling, unable to control her emotions. She felt weak. She couldn't defend herself against Lace, that was obvious. She was going to die. 

After a little while, Lace was able to recompose herself, understanding that the situation was a lot more deeper than she thought. She took a little distance between her and her partner and gently asked

"Hornet, I am sorry that I scare you but I'm afraid I don't understand. Listen, I- ... I think I understand that it is hard to believe for you that I'm not against you right now but I promise I'm not going to hurt you by any means. So please ... Tell me what's going on ..."

Hornet slowly tried to recompose herself too, gasping for air and watching the fencer that had a sincere look of pity on her face, genuinely worried about Hornet's well being. 

She was right.   
Lace would never do such thing.


	10. Chapter 10

It took quite a long time for Hornet to get to a state where she could talk without going right back into tears. Thankfully, Lace was patient, and calm. It was reassuring. Hornet still didn't mentioned what was this all about yet she felt protected. She was safe, she was with Lace, and everything would be alright. Well, not alright, but at least better. Slowly but surely the fencer began to touch her, to talk to her with sweet and reassuring little words and made sure to get her into a better state before anything else. She was still a bit scared of the spider yes, but she couldn't help but feel like there reason behind Hornet's behavior hid something pretty terrible. She had been quite a brat towards the servants of the castle during her time here. But one thing was sure, she never attacked nor threaten anyone, and that was what made her so respectable in her eyes. Hornet hated this place, but she knew how to control herself. 

"Okay, I can do this."

Hornet shivered, taking deep breaths and looked at Lace in the eyes. 

"Are you sure ? Don't you need a little more time ?"

"No, I think I'm good this time."

"Alright. I'll listen."

"There's dead spiders under the library in a secret hidden spot."

Lace took a few seconds before responding, trying to process what she just heard.

"What ? E-excuse me but I think I need you to repeat that."

"Dead bodies. Library. Secret place."

"O-okay. Okay. Woaw. That's ... Clearly something. Let's go by little steps alright ? Uuuuh... Are you sure theses were real bodies and not just, I don't know ... Very realistic statues to inspect anatomy ?"

"I'm sure of it. There were wet specimens that look too detailed to just be art. And I know the smell of my kind too. It's not something that you can fake, and I don't see why would it be faked in any way."

"Okay, I'll admit that's really horrible ... But why though ? Why would they keep things like that ? It's not like we have some kind of policy against spider or anything, the proof is, you're right here, in front of me ! I don't understand, I really don't ... Is that just some kind of scientific things to see how does the body work or something ?"

Hornet was still a bit unsure about if she should trust Lace, but her reactions seemed genuine and hard to fake. Plus her questions were legitimate.

"It does seem to be just for scientific research. Some books were there. I don't remember well what they said but they all seemed to either talk about how to kill spiders or why should people kill spiders." 

"That's ... I don't understand ... I mean, you're not like us because of your culture but you're not bad right ? Right ?"

Horner sighed and took her needle, just to reassure herself.

"Listen Lace, I don't know anything more. I just saw that room and panicked. And now I'm feeling like I can't trust anyone in this place. I don't know what to do and what will happen."

"I ... I understand. Honestly I'm not mad that you attacked me after that. I would've probably reacted the same way. But ... I want to prove to you that I'm on your side. Because I truly am. Trust me I would've freaked out if I knew you'd be in danger in any kind of way, I ... I like you. Really."

"The books."

"Quoi ?"

"I didn't get the chance to read any of the books. And I think that if something can help, it would be anything wrote in them. Do you think you'd be able to find the place and take one for me ? Any just one with enough informations that would seem to be interesting."

"Okay, but where did you find the place ?" 

"You can clearly feel it when you walk on the floor. There's a loose part, I'm sure you'll notice it if you're concentrated enough."

Lace seemed a little hesitant but took a quick breath, slapped her hands on the floor and got up. 

"Alright. Let's make it simple. I'll just say that you want to take books to read more but you're tired and I'll have to fetch them for you. If I stack up enough books they probably won't bother checking what did I choose for you. That should be good alright ?"

"That's risky ..."

"Huh, right. Like anything else going around the idea that you can be potentially killed at any moment for some reasons. We have to think fast if you want to get out of there. Compris ?" 

Hornet clenched her teeth. She knew she couldn't afford to think of Lace as an ally without any proof, but it was incredibly scary. What if she got caught ? What would happen ? She couldn't think about that without trembling. 

"Lace, you ..."

The princess smiled weakly, with a gentle look on her face. 

"It's going to be fine. We're both going to be fine. All that we have to do is get informations and then get you out of here."

"O-okay ..."

Lace slapped her own face and tried to look as normal as possible. She was not going to mess this up just because she was scared. Hornet's life was on the line, or at least everything seemed like it. And she was not going to loose here.


	11. Chapter 11

Waiting for Lace was long. Very, very long. It would've been better if Hornet could get out, but she had to pretend that she was tired for Lace to bring the books to here. So she had to wait in her bed, not moving, not training and and not doing anything to could get attention. She was stuck in a room with only her own thoughts and fears, and even if she probably was the person that was in danger right now, she couldn't help but be scared for Lace. She shouldn't have asked for thoses books. Lace was trustworthy and she knew it, yet she couldn't help but ask her to prove it. It was incredibly selfish, and now Lace was going to risk everything for her. 

Hornet could just stay in her bed, with for only company her most terrible thoughts. Each minute felt like an eternity, and her imagination for horrors didn't made it better. Hornet always thought that being raised with horrible creatures like nosks or corpse crawlers made her insensitive to horror. She was very wrong. 

The way her whole body spasmed when she heard a knock on the door was pretty impressive. She wasn't sure what to expect behind, but couldn't risk doing anything that would seem suspect, so she just took her best voice and answered, hoping it was Lace that finally returned. 

"Bonjour Hornet, good to see you."

It was Sharpe. Not awful like the guards, but clearly not good either. Hornet had to stay as calm as possible, and remember that she was supposed to feel weak that day. 

"... Hello Sharpe."

"I heard from my sister that you felt weak today. Is everything alright ? I'm not as close to you as Lace is, but if you want to talk I'm always here."

Hornet clenched her teeth. She had to come up with something, quickly. 

"I just had a bunch of nightmares lately. I'm used to that kind of things but thoses are pretty horrible for some reason and I just can't sleep at night. The last few days were alright but it seems the lack of sleep got me today ..."

Sharpe looked at Hornet with some curiousity... And possibly a little bit of malice. 

"Nightmares huh ? What kind of nightmares ? What are they about ?"

Hornet felt her blood pressure dropping in a second. She had been in situations of life and death before. But never against another intelligent being. She had no idea if Sharpe knew about it or if she was just hallucinating at this point. The stress and adrenaline made her overanalyze everything around her, and Sharpe was sometimes pretty difficult to understand in the first place. 

"They're about Pharloom, mainly. I don't know, I just don't feel comfortable about this place. It's weird, huh ? I'm more scared of the unknown than a place with a bunch of traps everywhere. I just miss deepnest and the Hive so much ... I hope my moms will visit soon." 

Sharpe's face went through a pretty weird and undescribable expression for a very short time, which quickly turned into a gentle smile. 

"I'm sure they'll come soon. It's not that weird to miss your home, I think. Even if I went to the white Palace I'm pretty sure I'll freak out even if that place doesn't seem that bad in itself. Speaking of which, don't you want your dad to come here too ?"

"I don't have a father, only a duche that serves me as a genitor at best. He's never been here for me and probably never will. And I mean, have you even seen him ? He's ridiculous, with that stupid crown that is ten times too big for his head and his cape that covers his whole body ... Seriously he should've stayed a Wyrm, at least he would've kept some style !" 

Sharpe snickered, nodding. 

"Yeah, he's pretty stupid looking, I agree with that. I wouldn't want to be associated with him either. Honestly, I'm better with just one mother that never takes care of me but is at least badass looking than a father that looks like a grub."

"You do know that the grub-looking dude is going to be your father-in-law, right ?"

"Oh please don't remind me that ..." 

The duo snickered for a little time, which almost made Hornet forget about how scared she was. Sharpe always seemed strict yet had this gentle approach towards others that made him look like he wasn't coming from royalty. It was nice. 

Still, the two got stopped in the middle of the conversation by another knock on the door, and it slowly opening. This time, it was Lace. The princess was wobbling around with a stack of books in her hands, smiling while she was trying to move right. 

"Oh, Lace ! So that's why you came to the library ... You could've asked for a servant to do that you know ? It looks pretty heavy."

"Yup, it is pretty heavy. But I couldn't just ask for a servant to get them, mainly because Hornet wanted some pretty specific books about ... Let's say, how do adult bodies work."

"How do- owh. I see. Well enjoy your readings Hornet, but I'm going to leave right now because as you know, I don't want to hear anything about that. See you later ladies, and I hope you'll feel better soon."

Sharpe quickly got out of the room as Lace chuckled, seeing that Hornet was as red as her dress. 

"Did you really had to tell him that ?"

"In short ? Yes. One, I needed an excuse to say why you couldn't just ask a servant. Two, we needed him out of the room as fast as possible before he notices anything weird."

"Still, that's not really nice ..."

"You being in danger is not nice either, I just did what I could think of in less than a second to make sure everything was alright. Speaking of that, do you think he noticed anything ?"

"I'm not sure. He seemed a little weird at first but ... Nothing else. I told him I had nightmares and he believed me."

"Good. So now, we're going to focus on what's important here."

Lace took one specific book out of the stack, and put it on the bed for them to see it well. It was a pretty simple and old looking book with a blue cover and golden letters for the text. 

"Pharloom and spiders, an history of heros and monsters"


	12. Chapter 12

Hornet knew that historical books were always full of lies. It was easy and cheap propaganda, even if sometimes the lies seemed pretty hard to just accept. But this book ? It was hard to understand how could people believe such things. 

This book was full of detailed portrait of creatures supposed to look like spiders, and detailing the history of Pharloom and theses "creatures". 

Every spider shown in the book was portrayed in a rather ... Macabre tone. Violent, heartless, and enjoying the pain of others. Each description made Horner feel even sicker. She felt her whole body shaking as Lace slowly turned each page, tryin to understand why was this book so ... Untrue. 

Strangely enough, there was one page that didn't described a spider with a desire to kill them. On the contrary, it was using specific terms to talk about one precious thing, and apparently "the only reason why the species shouldn't be disapearing" : silk. 

Silk was a very nice thing to use, no matter for what. Constructions ? It was resistant enough to lift rocks. Surgery ? Silk was probably the best material to use to close wounds. Clothing ? The clothes made our of silk were very comfortable to wear and very difficult to rip. It was at this precise description that Lace closed the book and took a few steps back, completly white and lost. 

"Lace, are you-"

"My outfit. It's made out of silk."

The silence that filled the room after her words was undescribable. Lace had a sudden realisation if something that should've been obvious, but wasn't. Silk was made from spiders, but there was no spiders in the kingdom and no civilizations of spiders around it that communicated with them. Or so, Lace thought. 

"Hornet, there is no mention of all the spiders being killed, j'ai raison ?"

"R-right."

"Then you were wrong. It's not your life that is in danger, but your freedom. Non non. They're turning spiders into slaves."

The two girls simply went silent once again. It made sense. It made sense in every possible way, yet it seemed unrealistic. If the spiders were to be used, the pale king would've known. And he would've stopped everything. He was not one to be really caring about the weavers tribe, yet he did appreciate the commercial deals he had with them, and Herrah, even if she was not the one to be really nice to him, was willing to let the tension of the hive towards his kingdom go down thanks to her relationship with Herrah. There was no way he could've been sign anything that would agree to slavery or anything close to that. Unless ...

"Lace, do you know where official papers are kept ?"

"Yes, I do. But there's only one way to access the room without being caught and it's pretty risky."

"We have to know. If there is nothing about spiders in the contract, I'm safe, but I'll need to talk to the pale king as soon as I can. But if there is anything about it, there's no way I could be safe enough to have proper contact with him in time."

Lace seemed reluctant to the idea of bringing hornet to such an important and highly secured place, yet she had to. There was no choice to be done. 

"Alright. I'll show you the way. Be sure to be as silent as possible."

Lace opened the window and got outside, helping Hornet to climb on the roof and see the outside better. As soon as they were out, Lace started to whisper. 

"You see that window in the corner there ? It's the only way we can enter. But we'll have to hope that it's open, otherwise we're doomed."

Hornet nodded, and started to walk on the roof towards the place that felt so important to her in such moment. Not only her life was on the line, but it was her whole family's freedom that might've been in danger. She had to do something, and wasn't scared to die at this point. 

Seeing so many guards patrolling never seemed so scary for Hornet until this day. It wasn't security for her safety. She was watched because she was in prison. Thankfully, the awfully bug bell helmets made it difficult for them to look up, and the roofs were pretty high, so Lace and Hornet could navigate without too much difficulties. Plus, no one would think of the roof as a way to move in the castle. That's what made the spider think Lace was clever in the first few days of her dialogues with her. 

Finally arriving in front of the window, Hornet advanced to put her hand to try to push the glass before being caught and brought against the wall by Lace. Startled, Hornet almost bit her partner but quickly understood that this was done for a reason. The queen herself, that Hornet never even met in person, was in the room and reading some papers before signing them and sighing. She left them on the desk she first found them on and exited the place, leaving the guards guarding the door with a few instructions before closing the door with a key. The two girls waited for a little while before checking the window

And thankfully, it was indeed open. Having guards for such an important place was apparently not enough to remember to lock the simplest way in. 

The two girls entered the room slowly, making sure not to make a noise, before realizing that finding a specific paper would probably be really difficult. Unless. 

Lace grabbed Hornet's cloak and pointed towards the table, before realizing that it was actually the papers they were looking for. Perhaps too easy of a search ... It felt weird. 

Hornet started to look through the pile of papers. She hated to see so many rules and nice words, all of that just to say that the two kingdoms were now allies and would trade stuff... Politics were unnecessary complicated. 

But it was at the end of the pile that she found a document that seemed out of place. The paper was a little browner than the others, yet still belonged in the pile. 

"Following the contract between the two kingdoms of Pharloom and Hallownest, the Pale king agrees that he will agree to the politics of Pharloom regarding the behaviors towards invasive or dangerous species, including his own subjects. Therefore, every creature considered dangerous or that could damage properties included in the official historical books of our royalty will be considered a target and therefore no protection can be granted towards them."

Hornet stopped herself from hissing loudly. That was a bastard move. Of course the king would check all of the historical books of Pharloom all by himself. He was fooled just like a beginner. 

And now, Hornet was sure that everyone was in danger.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So after noticing that the Lacenet tag got a very nasty fic yesterday, I decided that I will go back on working on my fics of this ship  
> Let's wash our eyes now shall we ?


	13. Chapter 13

The two girls went quickly out of the room, closed the window without and noise, climbed back on the room and simply stared at each other. What now ? They knew that something was going on, but what could they do about it ? Hornet couldn't just magically teleport back to her kingdom, and no one was going to let her out. And even worse, if she did try to get out, she would probably be caught and it will have horrible repercussions. A spider was caught in her own web. 

"Do you ... Have any ideas Hornet ?"

"No."

The answer was simple and clear, yet disappointing. She had no idea of what was she supposed to do. In any case, she was even more lost to know that her father agreed to such things. And the accumulated stress made it pretty hard to think of a solution. 

"We have to get you back to Hallownest."

"Oh yes, of course. And how are we supposed to do that ?! You do know that everyone will try to kill me if I do anything against the rules. The goal is not to get caught, remember ?"

Lace bit her lip. She knew all of that, but that was the only way of getting at least a beginning of a solution.

"There is a way. The rose fields."

Hornet gasped. She had completely forgot about this place. Not only there were no guards nearby the elevator, but it went through the villages of Pharloom to come back to Hallownest, rather than getting through an unknown be dangerous land. It was almost too perfect.

"But what about the guardian you mentioned ?"

"He's ... Intelligent, for what I heard. He's loyal, but he knows how to differenciate good from bad and mostly fair and unfairness. If we can explain the situation, he'll let us through."

Hornet simply nodded. She was sceptical. If this person was loyal to the kingdom, he obviously knew about the spiders. And if he knew about it, he would be against her. 

"Lace. Do you think this is really safe enough to go right now ?"

"No ... Maybe not right now. Last time I brought you there was a chance that we could get caught but it was extremely small and we didn't risk much because we weren't going to get farther. This time, we shouldn't take any risk. We should go at night. I'll take back the books to the library and I'll go back to my room. I'll say to everyone that you need some sleep, I don't see any reason why they should believe us. Then at night, I'll snatch you out of bed, we'll get to the elevator and that should be it. Would that be okay with you ?"

"Are you really sure it will be alright ?"

"I'm sure. This place is forgotten, so much that we can't access it unless we go on the roof. The only reason we can get caught on day is because people can see us."

"Yes, but they will be able to see you at night if you go out with a light. Am I incorrect to assume that you do not possess night vision ?"

"You're right, I can't see at night. But one nice thing about the gardens of this place is that there are lumaflies everywhere, so there is little lights in the whole gardens and on the walls. I'll just grab a lumafly and put it on my wrist, that should be enough to get me through the dark and not catch the attention of anyone."

"Won't the lumafly, you know ... Fly away ?"

"My family domesticated them centuries ago. They're used to be handled."

The two girls went back to Hornet's room pretty quickly, discussing the details of the plan. It wasn't really important, since nothing much would happen. They would simply walk in the dark towards the place. Still, asking questions was reassuring. It helped Hornet focus on anything except the fact that her whole family was in danger. But when Lace left the room with the books, Hornet felt her heart go crazy once again. Thankfully she wasn't thinking about her family, but mostly about Lace's safety once again. She really did help her a lot. She was a true friend. Hornet cared about her more than she thought she could ever do. It was a weird but nice sensation. Caring.

Lace came back in the room at night like planned. No one was around, no one suspected anything. It was still extremely stressful but at least the two of them were reassured that everything was going like they planned. 

They got off the window as carefully as possible, looking around for lumaflies that they could catch. Thankfully, Lace was right : there was many of them and they were willing to stay around them to get them a little bit of light. Still, each time Hornet saw a guard, she felt her heart racing. This was her only chance. If she messed up, everything was ending for her, and probably for Lace too. Each step was carefully placed to make as little noises as possible and every time she felt like the noise she made was too powerful she felt tears in her eyes. 

But thankfully, they arrived at the small garden. The elevator was here. The two of them were completely okay and nothing could stop them. Yes, they succeeded in-

"Sister ? What are you doing here in such a late hour ?"

The two girls froze and slowly turned around to see Sharpe behind them, staring at the duo with a very confused face. 

"Sh-sharpe ! What a coincidence, wha... How did you find us ...?"

" I saw you two walking around on the room through my window. Now, tell me what are you two doing here."

Hornet bit her lip, trembling. They messed up. That was it, that was the end. She was going to die and the weavers too.

"Sharpe, dear sibling, would you listen to me if I told you something you did not expect ? And ... Would you trust me if I asked you not to say a word to others ?"

"... I will."

"Alright ... Hornet is in grave danger, because of our kingdom. And her family too. And if she doesn't escape tonight to tell the others, we don't know what might happen. I will come with her to show her the way, because I do wish her a safe travel. We really need to go, now."

Sharpe started at the two ladies for a while before sighing loudly. 

"I didn't see you two. I will now go back to my room and sleep, and act surprised when people won't find you in your beds tomorrow."

Sharpe slowly stepped away of the garden, and disapeared in the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I won't lie, this fic is taking me a lot longer than I thought. But I'm still having fun !


	14. Chapter 14

Hornet and Lace took a little while to process what happened. Sharpe really decided to help them. Did he knew about the spiders ? Did he let them go with that idea in mind ? Either way, the two of them were free now. They hopped in the elevator and decided to hold hands, waiting for it to get down. It was stressful. But they were here for each other, and nothing wrong could happen. The two of them arrived in the rose fields and lace looked at the elevator's mechanism. 

"If it goes up, we will have no method of going back up. Are you sure about it ?"

"If it doesn't go back up, people will obviously find us. We have to make it go back. Why are you so afraid."

"It's ... You know ... I never went farther than thoses fields. It's ... Scary, to me. I know you need me and I know I need to go with you but ... This is a first time for me."

Hornet smiled and grasped her hand.

"You won't be alone. I'll be here to protect you, and this is a journey we'll face together. Nothing can stop us if we're determined enough."

"... You're right."

Lace pushed the buttons and the two of them watched the elevator slowly going back up, leaving them stuck between the thousands of flowers on the floor.

"So ... What now ? Where are we going ?"

"Tomorrow, we will seek the guardian behind the field. I heard that he is fair, and works only for justice. I'm sure that if he explains everything well enough he'll simply let us pass. But for now ... We sleep."

"Sleep ?! Are you sure this is a good idea ?!"

"Hornet, we cannot simply think that we will have a lot of occasions to rest during our travels. And I clearly doubt that our servants in the castle will find out that we escaped before the sun rises. So for now, we sleep because we have an occasion that we might not get again."

"I ..."

"Trust me Hornet. I know what I'm talking about."

"I trust you."

Lace simply laid down on the flowers, closing her eyes and trying her best to relax. Hornet followed her with a bit of stress, but clearly had no choice. She sighed, closed her eyes, and let her mind wander slowly into slumber. 

The night was ... Difficult. For both of them. Full of nightmares and coldness. Even if Hornet was used to this kind of nights due to her time in deepnest, this one was particularly difficult for her. As for Lace ... There was no doubts that it was even more difficult for the lady. She barely had any idea of how actual danger worked in the past, it must've been quite the shock for her. When Hornet woke up, Lace was already preparing herself. The spider had no idea what time it was, but it did not matter as long as the sun wasn't out. 

"Just tell me whenever you're ready Hornet."

"I am. I don't need much to be awake. Let's go."

The two girls walked through the flowers towards the only corridor of the place. It was filled with a sweet scent of pot pourri, and thankfully, even if it was covered in roses, none had spikes. The further they got, the more hornet felt ... Oppressed. Watched. Someone was here, somewhere in the darkness. And when they finally got into another room, she understood it. She jumped back and hissed, only to get a golden pin threw down to her feet. 

"Who are you, and why do you seek to get through this sacred place ?"

"H-hi. I'm Lace, and this Hornet. We're having a major problem at the capital right now and we need to go to Hallownest."

"The capital can take care of their problems by themselves. It was built to do so. Now get out or perish by my pin."

Lace was about to speak when Hornet threw her needle towards the guardian, barely missing her target. She hissed again, and jumped to get her weapon back before her opponent could steal it. 

"I see that you made your choice. I will not spare someone with such aggressive manners."

The two bugs started to attack each other violently, 

"You are filled with ignorance, you that decided to get through the path of my pin. You would not survive long outside of this room."

"Maybe not alone, but I've got Hornet. But this does not matter since it is 'ot the subject of this conversation. We're loosing time, and we simply can't afford such thing."

"And why is that ? Your friend seemed not to care too much about the time she spent attacking me."

The spider felt her whole body shiver. If she followed her instinct, she would've bit his head off. But now was not the time to do such thing. 

"You attacked me first. I had every possible reason to respond aggressively. Still, I do think that talking would be the best thing to do to resolve this problem."

Lace nodded. 

"We need to get to Hallownest, as soon as possible. The fate of dozens of innocents depends on us." 

"And what makes you think they are worth your attention, little one ?"

Lace simply stared at the man blankly 

"... What ?"

"I know who you are, Lace of Pharloom. You are from royalty. And royalty doesn't care about other's lifes, I know that for sure, and this is why I forbid them to get through this passage. Tell me one good reason why I should believe you when you say to me that you care about people ... People that you probably never met."

"This is ridiculous ! Are you seriously going to forbid me from saving people that obviously need help ?!" 

"Not if you tell me why you care about them. You probably don't even care about this spider. You're using her as a simple room because she's useful, but she'll end up meeting the exact same fate as the others."

"No !! And don't you dare repeat that, not even once !"

"And why is that ?! Say it !"

"BECAUSE I LOVE HER !!"

Lace started sobbing, barely able to breathe properly, chocking on her tears with little to no self awareness. 

"I want Hornet to be safe because I can't imagine her being hurt in any ways, and I certainly don't want her family to be hurt either ! She's a wonderful and kind person and that's why I love her ! I can't imagine living a life where she's not by my side ... And I don't want to live a life where she would have to suffer because I was too stupid to act to protect her family ! So now either you get out of our way or I will be the one attacking you !"

The guardian smiled and sat down. He put his weapon on the floor and looked at the duo kindly. 

"Go. Save these people. You're the kind of princess this kingdom needs. I hope that one day, you'll be the one on the throne." 

Lace took about a minute to call herself down before walking towards the exit and finally answering. 

"Maybe one day I will take the throne. But right now, that's not the most important thing." 

The two ladies walked out of the room, leaving a weird atmosphere behind their steps.


End file.
